I am a bit of a bookworm, have been since childhood. I would devour books in a weekend, and I typically read every night before bed. It’s my retreat, my relaxation tool, my escape from reality.

When I first suffered my TBI, I was unable to read for months.  My vision was blurred/doubled and I couldn’t retain the last chapter I read and would often have to go back and re-read what I already had read. It was SO frustrating, and it took away the one comfort habit that I had.

One of the very first books I read as I began my slow recover was Chicken Soup for the Soul: Recovering From Brain Injuries. Not only were they short reads, they allowed me to see inside other survivors lives, and reassured me that I was not alone. I believe this book is what led me down the path of writing my own book: to help others not feel alone!

The second book I read was My Stroke of Insight. This book is written by a neuroscientist who suffered a stroke, and was able to write about her experience. The part that touched me most with her book was her positive attitude towards recovery, and that even though some parts of us no longer work the same, we can embrace the others parts that we discover along the journey.

I get asked often if there are any books out there to help people dealing with concussion, brain injury, stroke, etc. Of course, everyone should own my book Life With a Traumatic Brain Injury: Finding the Road Back to Normal LOL … but there are some really great books out there by other survivors as well as medical professionals.

I have compiled a list here of my top 10 books (plus mine) with links to purchase on Amazon. I know many of these authors personally, and have read the majority of the books. Those I haven’t read, I have heard nothing but positive reviews from other survivor friends. I hope that you find your next favorite book!!

** this post may contain affiliate links **

I just returned from a two-week advocacy trip to Washington DC and wanted to create a brief recap video for you!

Huge thank you’s to:
Brain Injury Services of Virginia
BIS Recovery Group
Debi Gale’s Mind Matters Groups
Argosy University of DC
ADAPT Clubhouse
INOVA Fairfax Hospital Trauma Survivor Network
Brain Injury Association of America
Senators Klobuchar and Franken
Jenna Wolfe from NBC

Many thanks to all of my supporters who either offered financial support through my GoFundMe, or those who supported me emotionally, and also by sharing my campaign with friends and family and asking for their support. I truly wouldn’t have been able to make this amazing advocacy trip without each and every one of you!!

I am in the process of putting together a few more trips in the near future, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and Illinois.
You can help support my advocacy endeavours in several ways:
– Purchase a copy of my book
– Purchase a copy of my e-book
– Purchase a TBI Awareness Bracelet
– Make a donation

Stephanie and I with Jenna Wolfe from The Jenna Wolfe Show, sporting our TBI Awareness bracelets in Washington DC!

Amy meeting with her State Senator, Al Franken, in Washington, DC during Brain Injury Awareness Day.

March is National Brain Injury Awareness Month, and on March 16th we will celebrate Brain Injury Awareness Day on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. (which also happens to be my birthday, so talk about the ultimate birthday present!!)

The day will include a brain injury awareness fair with more than 50 exhibitors, a Congressional briefing, and a reception to celebrate the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force as well as Brain Injury Awareness Month. The schedule and room locations are:

* 10am-2pm: Brain Injury Awareness Fair, Cannon Caucus Room, Cannon House Office Building

* 2:30-4pm Congressional Briefing, “It’s Not ‘Just’ a Concussion”, Capitol Visitors Center, Congressional Meeting Room North CVC 268

* 5-7pm Reception Celebration, B338 Rayburn House Office Building

The very first Brain Injury Awareness Day on Capitol Hill was held in 2002, and is is hosted by the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force co-chaired by Reps. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.) and Thomas J. Rooney (R-Fla.). It is put on in partnership with the Brain Injury Association of America. I will be meeting with my Senators while I am in DC and asking them to join the Task Force!

This year will be my second time attending BIA Day, and I wanted to offer my fellow survivors who are planning to attend some tips on planning out your day!

1. Map Your Route

Whether you’re arriving by Metro, Taxi, or car, it is important to do your research and know where you’re going. Make note of which building you need to be at, and program the addresses into your GPS using the “walk” option, or print out maps and highlight your path. NOTE: You will need to go through security screening to enter any of the buildings at the Capitol. You can not bring in food or beverages, and your bags will be scanned and/or checked by hand. Please be prepared, and feel free to tell security you have a brain injury and may need some assistance from them.

2. Plan Your Schedule In Advance

Understand how much energy you’re willing to exert and plan accordingly. If you can only give yourself and hour or so, I highly suggest you put your energy towards the Awareness Fair. You will be able to meet with vendors who support brain injury awareness, you’ll meet fellow survivors, interact with the Brain Injury Association of America, and pick up some free swag to take home with you! The Congressional Briefing can get a bit long, and can be over stimulating to listen to, however, you will learn a lot and get updates on what is happening across the country with brain injury awareness, detection, and prevention. The Reception is a fun time to hang out with the new people you have just met, as well as eat some tasty treats.

3. Wear Comfortable Shoes

It’s important to understand that there is a lot of walking involved when you’re at the Capitol. You will walk from your car, Taxi, or Metro stop to the building, and also between the buildings. Distance is deceiving when you look at a map, so it’s good to be prepared for a lot of walking!

4. Stay Hydrated & Eat A Snack

Hydration is critical to brain health, so bring a water bottle and fill it up once you’re through security. There is also a cafeteria located inside the building where you can purchase beverages as well as a meal or snacks.

5. Bring A Notebook & Pen & Tote Bag

You will likely meet a lot of wonderful new people, and you’ll want to grab their business card and/or make notes. You will be taking in a lot of new information, and I suggest writing things down so you don’t forget, and make notations of things you want to follow up on. A tote bag will come in handy to carry around the free swag that you pick up (pens, etc).

6. Pace Yourself & Be Prepared For Overstimulation

Get LOTS of rest the night before. This is going to be a busy day with lots of people, walking, and interaction. Bring with you any comfort items you may need such as sunglasses and earplugs. Take breaks and pace yourself, you’re under no obligation to see it all and do everything on the schedule!

7. HAVE FUN!

Amy Zellmer is a professional photographer, author, and creative business coach living in Saint Paul, MN. She is an active member of the Brain Injury Association of America and sits on their Advisory Council. Her first book, “Life With a Traumatic Brain Injury: Finding the Road Back to Normal” is available as an e-book with a “pay what you can” option for the month of March. You can find her on Huffington Post and at Faces of TBI.

I recently partnered up with one of my beautiful friends from the UK and founder of Healing Boxes, Grace Quantock. She began Healing Boxes in 2012 after a friend was in a car accident and recovering in the hospital. She states:

“Living with a chronic illness, I was bed bound. Although I couldn’t visit, I wanted to do something for my friend. I felt helpless in that moment, and it was awful. I was too far away to visit and felt there was little I could do.”

Until I realized I could send my support, in a healing, heartwarming box of cheer. It sounded so simple, so obvious. But as I began to search for the right gift, I was utterly disheartened by what little was available and appropriate. A card and flowers was just not enough.

Living with a chronic illness myself, I knew exactly what was needed. So I searched and packaged up a variety of lovingly chosen items that my dear friend would be enjoy and be able to use. The very first Healing Box was born.”

Healing Boxes became more than a business, it became a mission. Grace wanted to spread comfort, joy, passion, and love to every person in need. She assembled a board of fantastic people who were passionate about helping others, and formally made Healing Boxes a “Community Interest Company” (CIC). A CIC is a UK-based type of company that is specifically designed to use their profits and assets for the public good and the benefit of the community. Basically, it’s a business and charity all rolled into one neat little package, or in her case, a box.

Grace is currently living, and thriving, with an often debilitating illness. She knows firsthand the emotional and physical roller coaster that accompanies diagnosis and life struggle. This is exactly why I knew Grace was the perfect person to partner with for a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Healing Box. Having suffered through a concussion myself, I knew exactly what it was like. You feel alone, isolated, scared, emotional, and mostly you just want someone to reach out to you with love and compassion.

The TBI Healing Box is filled with items lovingly selected by myself and Grace specifically for individuals dealing with Traumatic Brain Injury or Post Concussion Syndrome. All of the items are hand made in the UK and include:
1. Ear plugs, to help keep distracting and overwhelming noises to a minimum.
2. Eye mask, to help with light sensitivity.
3. Ice pack, to help with sore muscles, as well as headaches.
4. Meditation CD, specifically designed to help with sleep
5. Palm Stone, as a reminder of the love and support that was sent your way
6. Teapigs Tea bags, for a comforting and soothing cup of tea
7. Wellness Journal, to journal your recovery, keep track of to-do items, and more!
8. Hand Written note, from myself to you, to encourage you on your journey to recovery
9. A TBI awareness bracelet to wear proudly
10. A code to download a digital version of my book,  “Life With a Traumatic Brain Injury: Finding the Road Back to Normal” 

All of this is lovingly packaged in Wales, UK and delivered to the door of your loved one. Imagine the gratitude they will feel, knowing someone has thought enough to send them this Healing Box, specific to the invisible injury that they are currently feeling overwhelmed and struggling with!!

If you have a loved one you care about but feel:
* you want to do something for them but don’t know what to do
* you are scared and frustrated
* you feel out of your league on the scope of their injury
* you don’t understand their injury
* you don’t live nearby to help or visit
* you want to help, but don’t know how

This Box is designed for a loved one you care about, who has either recently suffered a concussion or brain injury, or is still continuing to recover from one (recovery can take years). I personally know the struggle and these are the exact items I have used to help me with my recovery. It is hard to know what to do for someone when it’s an invisible injury that you can not see or understand. By sending them a beautiful box full of useful items, designed just for what they are dealing with, you will show them just how much you care.

Best of all, you are not only helping a loved one suffering with TBI, you are also helping to support a community with the purchase of a Healing Box. For more information, please visit: www.healing-boxes.com/tbi

I am honored to be one of 17 bloggers on the Rewired Life Virtual Blog Tour, hosted by Audrey Michel. If you have already registered to receive all 17 of these amazing blogs, you can do so here: www.audreymichel.com/tour 

When Audrey first approached me to be a part of the tour, and explained that the focus was “LOVE yourself, HEAL your body & mind, CELEBRATE life” I knew that I had get involved!

Having suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in February 2014 after slipping on a patch of ice in the driveway and landing full force on the back of my skull, I have witnessed first-hand what our bodies (and minds) are capable of during times of extreme pain, fatigue, and distress.

I was shocked at the reaction of many of my so-called friends, telling me “It’s just a concussion” and to “get over it — it’s no big deal.”

WHAT?! Since when are concussions no big deal?!
(answer: never — they ARE a big deal…. and can be life-altering with major consequences).

To put things into perspective, here are some of the things I was dealing with:

* My cognitive processing system was badly damaged — I had no idea how to use an ATM machine, my microwave, or a gas pump
* I had visual problems — later to be diagnosed as double vision and convergence problems
* My short term memory was pretty much non-existent — I literally got lost and had panic attacks driving home from familiar places I had driven to hundreds of times before
*  I had a constant, stabbing pain in my head where my skull had made impact with the pavement — and would later be told I had permanent nerve damage which results in the entire left side of my head going “numb”
* I was suffering from a great deal of aphasia — which is a condition where you can not come up with the word, or you say a completely wrong word
* Dealing with Neuro fatigue is one of the most challenging things I have ever had to deal with in my life…… and learning how to balance life/work/fatigue
* Dizziness and Vertigo often kept me from being able to do anything.… it is a completely debilitating side effect of head trauma.

The entire first year after my fall is pretty much a blur…. while I had to continue going through the daily motions of running my business in order to keep a roof over my head, I spent far more hours in bed than I did anything else.

At the one-year mark, I had begun to think I was never going to get better…. I was living with a perpetual hell inside my head and no one could understand what I was dealing with. One by one friends slipped away…. leaving me to feel even more isolated and alone than I could ever have imagined. I contemplated suicide (not because I was lonely, but because I was in SO much pain, and couldn’t see myself ever getting better).

I made a risky and bold move — I wrote a very personal blog post about what I had been dealing with for the past year — and published it on the Huffington Post. What happened next was completely amazing!

I began receiving emails from strangers all over the world — thanking me for putting into words exactly how they had been feeling. We were fighting the same fight, I was no longer alone!!

I knew it was time to start healing my physical and emotional trauma, so that I could continue to be a voice for TBI:

• Eventually I began to start up my daily yoga practice again…. and low and behold the dizzy and vertigo slowly started to subside (not completely gone… but manageable).
• In addition to yoga, I also began weight training in an attempt to get my strength and endurance back up. Sitting dormant for over a year is extremely hard on your body, and mine needed to get moving again.
• I embraced essential oils, which I had already been using. I didn’t take one single prescription med during my recovery. I regulated my pain, mood, and everything else by using EO’s.
• My neurologist finally sent me to a Cranial Sacral Therapist ….. I firmly believe CST saved my life…. it helped relieve all the pressure and fogginess inside my head (which also contributed to relieving the dizzy/vertigo problems).
• Writing has been an emotional outlet……. a therapy if you will. Knowing that my words help others cope with their TBI gives me something to look forward to.
• I also began seeing a Therapist several times a month about 10 months into my recovery, after I had a major panic attack (though I had no idea that’s what it was at the time). We determined I was afraid of hurting myself again…. with snow and ice being a trigger for me.
• I honor my body, and give it grace when it needs extra sleep. I am starting to understand my limits and don’t force myself to get things done.
• Additionally, I honor my mind, and no longer get frustrated when I can’t quite figure out how to do things or come up with words. I understand that my recovery is still in progress, and may continue to be for many more years.

Having an attitude of gratitude for everything good in my life (as well as the challenges that i have gone through, which taught me valuable lessons) is critical for my emotional healing. I encourage every one of you reading this to start a daily gratitude practice….. simply write all that you’re grateful for in a journal at the end of the day. It has power effects on your well being!!

As Part of the virtual blog tour:
Check out yesterday’s blog post by: Christine Tremoulet
And remember to check out tomorrow’s post by: Whitney Gale

I also invite you to watch my free webinar on Essential Oils.… it is not at all a sales pitch….. it is a completely informative webinar that teaches you how to use essential oils, as well as what and how they can be used for! CLICK HERE for instant access!

Also, be sure to grab a FREE CHAPTER from Audrey Michel’s book “Rewired Life” by clicking HERE.

Amy Zellmer is an advocate for TBI awareness and frequently contributes to the Huffington Post. She also recently published her first book “Life With a Traumatic Brain Injury: Finding the Road Back to Normal“. She currently has a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to speak in Washington DC for Brain Injury Awareness Day on Capitol Hill.

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of being on WCCO news radio to talk all about traumatic brain injury and continue bringing awareness to the forefront!

I was invited by Roshini to be on “News and Views With Roshini Rajkumar“ to kick off Brain Injury Awareness Month!

We had an amazing conversation, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to talk publicly about TBI!

Some of the highlights from our conversation:

• My TBI story
• Dr. Bennet Omalu
• My upcoming trip to Washington DC
• Coping skills
• TBI doesn’t discriminate
• Symptoms of concussion/TBI
• The TBI Tribe on Facebook
• TBI statistics
• Prevention tips

Amy Zellmer is an advocate for TBI awareness and frequently contributes to the Huffington Post. She also recently published her first book “Life With a Traumatic Brain Injury: Finding the Road Back to Normal“. She currently has a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to speak in Washington DC for Brain Injury Awareness Day on Capitol Hill.

Last night I had the experience of a lifetime meeting Dr. Bennet Omalu at the Beth El Synagogue here in the Twin Cities!

Omalu is portrayed by Will Smith in the movie “Concussion” which is a true story of Dr. Omalu and his journey in discovering CTE and taking on the NFL over the dangers of repetitive head trauma.

I was able to shake his hand and have him autograph a book for me. His smile is genuine, and he has a laugh that can make even the Grinch smile!

Throughout the evening he commented on how we are intelligent Americans, and intentionally hitting our heads in a game is just not intelligent. There are many false assumptions that simply wearing a helmet will help prevent head injuries…. even though we know this is not true as we watch NFL players repeatedly endure CTE.

He also addressed the issue of youth sports, and that is our responsibility to ensure their safety. We do not allow children to smoke until 18, drive until 16, drink until 21…. yet we allow them to endure repetitive head trauma as young as 8 years old….. where is the intelligence in this thinking?

Bennet is a dynamic and passionate speaker, and I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to hear him speak.

*More to come…. stay tuned!

Amy Zellmer is an advocate for TBI awareness and frequently contributes to the Huffington Post. She also recently published her first book “Life With a Traumatic Brain Injury: Finding the Road Back to Normal“. She currently has a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to speak in Washington DC for Brain Injury Awareness Day on Capitol Hill.

My trip to DC is to educate, advocate, and raise awareness about Brain Injuries, and is supposed to start in just 10 days!

We still have quite a ways to go, and I really need your help spreading the word!

I’d like to share some facts about the trip. Although it’s long please take a minute to read.

This past weekend I did something new: I went snowshoeing with my best friend, Simon.

If you’re familiar with my story, you understand that I slipped on a patch of ice on an inclined driveway, landing directly on my skull. Needless to say, I have some PTSD and emotional trauma that I am still working through in regards to snow/ice and inclined surfaces (even dry, or inside). 

Simon called and asked if I would go with him and some friends to the trails at a local state park. It was a gorgeous day and I knew it would be beautiful and perfect, but I was SO nervous. He knew this and coaxed me a little bit, telling me I needed to get out of the house (which was true!)

When we first got there, one of the friends suggested we put our snowshoes on at the bottom of the this small hill….. why they thought that would be a good idea I have no clue. As we walked down this hill my feet kept slipping and sliding underneath me and I could feel panic setting in. I hate having anxiety in public and do my best to keep it in check.

Simon immediately knew my slipping and sliding was going to be an issue and told me to stop and stand by the tree while he put the snowshoes on me (in the middle of the hill). Once he had secured the shoes on me, he assured me I would no longer slip or slide.

I was skeptical, but took a few baby steps testing them out. and…. it was AMAZING! I felt completely safe and secure with these snowshoes strapped to my boots!

We walked for about two hours (and about 7000 steps!) and had an wonderful time! The weather was perfect, the sky was bright blue against the white snow, and we could walk in solitude with nature… the only sound was the whooshing of our snowshoes and the birds ca-cawing.

This little adventure was a HUGE milestone for me. Not only did I get out of the house and walk down some slippery, snowy inclines, but it was also one of my first real physical activities. Sure i’ve been doing yoga and weight lifting, but this was good ol’ fashioned cardio work! And it felt GREAT!

I’m sure I am not completely over my fears and anxieties, but it sure did feel good to face them, and get some quality time with friends while I was at it!

Amy Zellmer is an advocate for TBI awareness and recently published her first book “Life With a Traumatic Brain Injury: Finding the Road Back to Normal“. She currently has a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to speak in Washington DC for Brain Injury Awareness Day on Capitol Hill.